Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika Gallery

ALKIS PIERRAKOS. LEPANTO: THE NAVAL BATTLE

Benaki Museum Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika Gallery Opening: February 4, 2015, 20:00 Duration: 05/02 - 28/03/2015

PRESS RELEASE

The exhibition “Alkis Pierrakos. Lepanto: The Naval Battle” is being inaugurated at the Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika Gallery on February 4, 2015. In this way, the Benaki Museum welcomes again the important artist Alkis Pierrakos, following his retrospective exhibition which had been presented at the Pireos Street Annexe in 2007.

The exhibition is being organised by the State Museum of Contemporary Art (Thessaloniki) and The J. F. Costopoulos Foundation, in collaboration with the Benaki Museum.

A very important and crucial historical event for the development of the European civilization, the Naval Battle of Lepanto, the Mediterranean Sea as a setting, and the art of painting as a mean of narrative and image making power are the basic elements of the exhibition. The artist, inspired by the Naval Battle of Lepanto, is presenting a new series of drawings with Indian ink on paper, which he created in 2011 and later on. In these works, dominated by the expressionist intensity and dynamism of the forms and lines, Pierrakos gives a dramatic sense of a violent conflict. Without resorting to full abstraction, he not only describes a historical event, but using it as a motive for painting.

The exhibition was initially presented at the State Museum of Contemporary Art venue in Moni Lazariston (October 10, 2014 – January 10, 2015) and will be also presented in Corfu, at the Latin Chapel of the Old Fortress (April 4-June 14, 2015).

Born on November 21st, 1920, in Thessaloniki,Greece. Until 1947 he lived in Yugoslavia, Thessaloniki and Athens. He studied at the Gewerbeschule of Basel (1948-1952), at the Slade School of Fine Arts and at the Central School of Arts and Crafts of London, where he met Oskar Kokoschka. In 1954 he moved permanently to Paris, where he lives and works until today. Since 1980 he has been working for long periods at Oxylithos, Evia. He has been a member and the co-ordinator of the group “La Ligne et le Signe”, which aimed to combine the limitations of drawing with the freedom of colour. In 1995 the “Association pour la Promotion de l’oeuvre d’ A. Pierrakos (APOAP)” was established.

His works have been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. Curator Katerina Koskina Coordination Alexandros Papayannis - Association pour la Promotion de l’oeuvre d’ Alkis Pierrakos, Anna Mykoniati - State Museum of Contemporary Art, Constantinos Papachristou - Benaki Museum, Meni Strongyli - The J. F. Costopoulos Foundation.

With the support of Association pour la Promotion de l’oeuvre d’ Alkis Pierrakos (APOAP)

CO-ORGANISATION

THE J. F. COSTOPOULOS FOUNDATION

IN COLLABORATION WITH

BENAKI MUSEUM PERMANENT COMMUNICATION SPONSORS

HASHTAG έκθεσης: #LepantoBM

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BENAKI MUSEUM – NIKOS HADJIKYRIAKOS-GHIKA GALLERY I 3 Kriezotou st I 210 361 5702 & 210 363 0818 I Visiting Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 10:00-19:00, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: Closed

TICKET Temporary exhibition: € 3 Ι Reduced admission: € 1,5 – Permanent exhibition: € 7 I Reduced admission: € 5 (More info about reduced admission at http://www.benaki.gr/admission)